1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for selectively listening to multiple audio sources for limited time periods and switching between the simultaneous output audio sources.
2. Discussion
Modern consumers have numerous sources of content available for entertainment. In particular, consumers when in vehicles typically have numerous audio content sources available through the entertainment system or “radio” of the vehicle. These content sources include various traditional audio sources, such as AM/FM radio bands, tapes, CD's and CD changers, as well as more recently satellite radio, MP3 files and other mass storage devices with audio content. With such a wide variety of audio content available, many users quickly switch audio content sources to avoid temporary undesirable audio content whether a song, commercial or other content that the user does not wish to hear. However, when the user switches to a secondary content, it is currently not possibly to know when the original undesirable content from the original source is finished, such that the user can switch back in a timely fashion. While one way to solve the problem of undesirable content would be for the audio source, such as a radio station to provide a signal between content to delineate between different songs or the scheduled programming and commercials, this is generally not in the interest of a radio station and would be unlikely to be implemented.
Many radio listeners have primary or favorite stations. These stations will, from time-to-time, broadcast a song, commercial, discuss an uninteresting or undesirable topic, or broadcast any other content which the user does not wish to hear. Traditionally, the user would switch to other content sources such as another radio station or a mass storage device to avoid the undesirable content. Many times the user desires to hear the upcoming content once the undesirable content is finished and the user has no way of determining when that undesirable content is finished. Therefore, the user does not know when to return to the original content source and many times misses portions of desirable content. As a more specific example, many users listen to talk shows during their commute in a vehicle. When a commercial break occurs, many users switch to another content source, such as a CD or another radio station. As the user finds the original content was interesting, typically the user is desirous to switch back to the original audio source upon the end of the undesirable content. However, the user has no idea when such content ends and many times misses a portion of the desirable content or returns to the original source too early and is forced to finish listening to the end of the undesirable content before the desired content returns.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that easily allows for a user to determine when to switch back to the desired content and preferably without any input from the broadcaster.